Additional Photos

• When it runs black and white photos, does the Press Herald run editorials protesting that tree trunks are really brown, not black, and that leaves are really green, not gray?

• If a contemporary Winslow Homer painted the Down East cover in oils, would critics demand the inclusion of power lines?

• Most viewers looking at that cover would understand it as an idealistic view.

• People who wish to see beauty see beauty. People who wish to see warts see warts.

• Investigative journalists are trained to find warts, and that’s a good thing. But maybe they should focus more on the foibles and failures of Paul LePage, less on the fancies of those who use artistic license to present Maine’s beauty.

• Readers looking for news of Maine do not typically go first to Down East. They rely on papers like the Press Herald — even though they understand that the papers’ photographs show only parts of scenes and only approximations of truth.

I’ll hope for more substance in future issues of the paper. Or will I find a follow-up protesting that the words on the Down East cover were not really there in the scene the photographer shot?

Richard S. KimballPortland

Ending the physics major would be a terrible move

I’m writing in response to the University of Southern Maine’s recent announcement of a plan to terminate the physics major.

Physics is a fundamental subject, necessary for any school that intends to call itself a university. Physics courses are required for many vital fields such as chemistry, biology, pre-med and any field of engineering. A smaller department with reduced funding will result in lower-quality education for students in all of these disciplines.

The university should put the needs of its students and the quality of its education above its desire to balance the budget. The university’s decision is a step backward for our state, and should be reversed to preserve one of the few opportunities Maine offers for education in STEM fields, an area in which the state is horribly lacking.

Our state has many bright young minds, and this decision sends the message to students pursuing a career in STEM fields that there is no place for them here.

Those prospective physicists who don’t wish to attend college far north in Orono will be forced to attend schools out of state, where they will most likely remain.

Patrick WallaceGorham

The University of Southern Maine is an important source of the engineers and scientists who make up the technical work force for many productive and growing technology companies in southern Maine.

Despite a demonstrable record of profitability, the university’s administration is attempting to sharply decrease the effectiveness of its physics department.

The department provides an important science opportunity for southern Maine residents while supporting engineers and other STEM departments at USM.

The students and faculty of USM strongly believe that the loss of the USM physics department will be a devastating blow to the state of scientific education in southern Maine and will result in a degradation in the quality of education for future engineers and STEM students hired by companies such as Texas Instruments, Idexx Laboratories, Artel and various other engineering firms.

In the interest of maintaining a supply of well-educated scientists and engineers in the region, I urge the university to halt plans to downgrade the department of physics.

Contrary to his opinion, climate change is going to be (and is already) exceptionally disruptive, costly and catastrophic to many species on the planet and there is scientific consensus on the key issues.

The problem with Harmon’s analysis is that he plucks statements from many sources and delivers them to readers in bullet form without including other the information that changes the meaning of the statements.

Climate scientists such as those at our own University of Maine tell us to stop arguing with climate change deniers and start doing the work that must be done to get us off fossil fuels. I had to argue a bit today, in case anyone is on the fence.

Sarah MacCollCape Elizabeth

Decision to tax newspapers another blow for the poor

I got the letter last night. I was very sorry to hear Maine has begun to tax the newspaper. I have heard so much about the newspaper businesses being in trouble.

I enjoy my Sunday newspaper and can afford the increase. But can lower-income people?

The greed of our state. It just a form of suppression for the poor, no different than having to provide ID at the polls. The folks in Augusta should hang their heads in shame.

John GrindleKittery

Nation’s newest citizens deserve voting safeguards

Just imagine! Newcomers to America spend up to four months studying English, American history and civics. They then take tests and are interviewed. All this to get a prized American citizenship and its main feature: the right to vote.

Democrats and Eric Holder’s Justice Department think anyone who can fog a mirror should be able to walk in off the street and vote. They shouldn’t even be burdened with making the effort to prove their citizenship and get a valid ID.

I wonder how those who worked so hard to earn citizenship and the right to vote feel about having their vote canceled by an unqualified voter or even fraudulent voter. Who really is being disenfranchised?

Portland Press Herald e-edition

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